The Liberal Conservative

Texas Democrats: Flight to Washington D.C.

On July 12, 2021, 60 Texas Democratic House of Representatives and 7 other Democrats flew to Washington D.C. amid the 87th Texas Legislature’s special session, resulting in decorum. Under the Texas Legislature, both the Senate and House chambers require two-third of the members to establish a quorum. Quorum is the minimum number of members required in an assembly to conduct official business. Since 60 Democratic representatives from Texas left the state, the quorum was invalid in the House chamber as the threshold of 100 out of 150 members was not met. The action taken by the Texas Democrats was soon applauded by Vice President Kamala Harris in her interview with Reuters, “I applaud what they are doing. They are part of the legacy of people who, for generations, sadly have had to fight for all Americans’ right to vote, some of whom have died in that pursuit.” Many on the left applauded Texas Democrat’s flight to D.C., while many on the right criticized the Texas Democrats for abandoning their work in the Texas Legislature. The reason for the Democrats abandoning the special session for D.C. was to invalidate the Republican-backed Voting Bill, which would make voting more secure according to Texas Republicans. However, the Texas Democrats argue that the Voting Bill SB1 targets voters who are more likely to vote for Democrats, and makes voting much more complex making it harder for Texans to initiate their right. Governor of Texas Greg Abbot called for the arrest of Texas Democrats who fled the special session, “As soon as they come back in the state of Texas, they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas capitol until they get their job done.” With mounting pressure on Joe Biden and the Democrats to pass the For the People Act, Joe Biden tackled the issue of election fraud conspiracies concocted by former president Donald Trump, “The ‘Big Lie’ is just that: a big lie.”

G20 Agrees on the New International Corporate Taxation

G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting on July 9, 2021

On Saturday, July 10, 2021, finance ministers from G20 agreed on the proposal to establish a 15% minimum international corporate tax rate system to eliminate tax-havens. Along with the G20 finance ministers, 131 countries from around the globe agreed this month, enabling the new tax rate to be enacted shortly. The US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen applauded the course of events, “The world is ready to end the global race to the bottom on corporate taxation… the world should now move quickly to finalize the deal.” Her Japanese counterpart Aso Taro expressed his endorsement of the historic achievement, expressing the agreement as “a historic change in a century.” While many praise the agreement as a “historic achievement,” Ireland was not on the list of signatories given their economic benefits from their low corporate taxes establishing themselves as a tax haven. With further intentions, G20 finance ministers concluded the meeting with a firm judgment towards other nations which have not yet signed their name into the once-in-a-generation international agreement. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, commonly referred to as OECD, the minimum 15% international corporate tax would increase the yearly revenue for 10,000 corporations by $150 billion. The proposal would effectively eliminate the tax havens the 4 main US corporations utilize to avoid the US corporate taxation. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google will in effect pay their taxes in the United States, as the agreement would raise Ireland and other countries’ corporate taxes and bring the revenues back into the hands of the US government.

Centenary of the Chinese Communist Party

President Xi Jinping of People’s Republic of China

On July 1, 2021, President Xi Jinping, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China, gave a 65-minute long speech to an audience of 70,000. During the 100th year anniversary which was held at Tiananmen Square, former and current top officials of the CCP and the government came together for the light shows, flypast of Chinese aircrafts, medal awards, and the speech by President Xi Jinping. In his speech, President Xi exclaimed the struggles the party had to endure to prosper, and that the future is bright for them. President Xi’s speech was cheered on by the audience as he pushed forward for the one-China principle, “Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China’s complete reunification is a historic mission and an unshakable commitment of the Communist Party of China.” In response to the speech, a Taiwan official released a statement to combat the CCP’s rhetoric of Taiwan, “Beijing should introduce democratic reforms, such as party competition, and respect for human rights while behaving as a responsible regional player.” CCP’s rhetoric not only angered Taiwan but also angered the Western media. President Xi exclaimed,

“We have never bullied, oppressed, or subjugated the people of any other country, and we never will. By the same token, we will never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress, or subjugate us. Anyone who would attempt to do so will find themselves on a collision course with a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.”

In the Western media, President Xi’s statement “collision course” was widely translated as “heads bashed bloody”, causing distress and wide confusion. Given the difficulty translating Chinese to English, the specific words will differ in definition, and further assessments are required to investigate the factuality of the translation. However, President Xi did engage in criticism of the Western powers over the course of his speech, promoting false narratives and warnings.

2020 Tokyo Olympics and COVID-19 Measures

While the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have been widely contested, principally in Japan amongst the citizens fearing for the further COVID-19 spread, the Japanese Government has displayed an eagerness to open the festivity with a numbered spectators or no spectators depending on the conditions. At this moment in time, the Olympics committee in Japan determined the max capacity at 50% of each venue, with the number not exceeding 10,000 spectators at any given moment. However, on June 21, 2021, the President of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee Seiko Hashimoto announced the possibility of no spectators during the competition, “What I feel is that no spectating should remain an option for us as we look into things.” President Hashimoto continued, “The situation is changing from time to time so that is why we need to remain flexible and prompt in responding to any change. A no-spectator game is one of our options.” Given the resurgence in COVID-19 infections in Tokyo reported by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Tokyo Olympic committee has scrambled to take measures to balance the Olympic organizing and the virus containment. All the while the containment measures and spectator numbers are being discussed, two members from the Ugandan Olympics team have tested positive for the COVID-19. This resulted in the government and the committee for an investigation on the case, with the Olympics committee further tightening containment for future infections. Even though protestors are arguing for the suspension of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics held in 2021, the Olympics will carry their grand opening on July 23, after a year of perseverance and quarantining.

Biden-Putin Geneva Summit

On June 16, 2021, the US President Joe Biden met with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Villa la Grange located in Geneva, Switzerland. Contrary to the past events, President Putin arrived at the Villa la Grange for the summit 15 minutes earlier than the agreed upon time. During the interlude, President Biden and President Putin sat across one another without having any conversations between them, causing many news outlets to conclude the silence as a tactic employed to send a message by both parties. During their summit, arms controls and cyber securities were the main topics of discussions, with the topics on the imprisonment of the Russian opposition Alexei Navalny, American prisoner in the hands of the Russian authority and Russian prisoners in the hands of the American authority, election meddling, Ukraine and its territories, and conflict in Syria potentially being considered. President Biden after the in-person meeting held a press briefing with the media, where he had a go at it against CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins when she asked why Biden was confident President Putin would change his behavior, “What the hell? … When did I say I was confident? What I said was—let’s get it straight—I said what will change their behavior is if the rest of the world reacts to them and it diminishes their standing in the world. I’m not confident of anything, I’m just stating the facts.” Right before President Biden boarded the Air Force One to head back home, he apologized to the media, “I owe my last questioner an apology, I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy with the last answer I gave.” While the United States and Russia are in a strenuous situation, President Biden commented the meeting as “positive,” with President Putin commented the meeting as “constructive.”

G7 Summit: Build Back Better

On June 11, 2021, 7 heads of state arrived in the United Kingdom for the G7 summit held in Cornwall. 7 attending nations for the first round of the summit are the United Kingdom as the host nation, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. Along with the 7 heads of state (Prime Minister Boris Johnson, President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Emmanuel Macron, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga), European Union will be represented by commission President Ursula von der Leyen and council President Charles Michel. In the latter stages of the G7 summit, 3 nations – India, South Korea, and Australia – and the UN will be welcomed into the group as the guests of the host nation. On the first day after the leaders took their group picture, discussions over vaccine donations were held with G7 agreeing upon the promise to deliver 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries around the world, with the United States taking on 500 million doses. Given the Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s remark over building the economy and the health back better, “We need to make sure that we now allow our economies to recover… We need to make sure that when we recover, we level up and we build back better. We have a huge opportunity to do that as G7,” G7 is now set to tackle the topics of climate change, economic recovery, COVID-19, and the threat of China. On the second day of the event, representatives of G7 discussed the issues of the rapid infrastructure plan named Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative by the United States to rival the economic and military surge by China. While the plan still requires plenty of modifications and allocations, a senior Biden camp official claimed, “This is not just about confronting or taking on China… But until now we haven’t offered a positive alternative that reflects our values, our standards and our way of doing business.” With G7 agreeing upon the infrastructure plan, the United States also introduced the matter of human rights violations by China, resulting in G7 agreeing to compete against China economically, but the actions against China held great division in opinions. While the official statement by G7 is yet to be released, it is said to have included China for the first time since three years ago according to an official who claims, “There was commitment to take action in response to what we’re seeing.” With the summit coming to its resolution, the minimum global corporate taxation was agreed upon during the finance ministers and central bank governors G7 with the communique brought on June 5 to notify the agreement. While the agreement is not all set and done, requiring further discourse between nations and agreement at the July 2021 meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, wide-ranging countries including South Africa and Mexico have already endorsed the plan of a minimum global tax rate of at least 15%. Five ministers who were in the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors wrote, “This year, nations have a historic opportunity to end the race to the bottom in corporate taxation, restoring government resources at a time when they are most needed… To pave the way to that goal, we endorse an initial understanding that the global minimum tax rate must be at least 15 percent, as agreed upon by the Group of Seven countries last week,” to indicate their confidence in the plan.

Japan Donates COVID-19 Vaccines to Taiwan

On June 4, 2021, Taiwan received 1.24 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from Japan for free of charge. As a result, Taiwan was able to double their amount of COVID-19 vaccine stock. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi gave a statement over the vaccine donations to Taiwan in his press conference, where he stated the importance of Taiwan’s help during the Great East Japan Earthquake, “I believe that is etched vividly in the minds of Japanese people.” Furthermore, the foreign minister expressed the reasoning as a strong friendship between the two countries, “The provision is based on our important partnership and friendship with Taiwan.” As Chinese influence led to the failure of the COVID-19 vaccine deal between BioNTech SE and Taiwan, it led to COVID-19 vaccine shortage for Taiwan. Now with the donations of Japan and further 750,000 doses of donations by the United States, Taiwan is able to vaccinate over 5% of its population. Taiwanese Health Minister Chen Shih-chung gave a statement on the donations by Japan as “extremely thankful” and gave his routine COVID-19 press conference with a sign stating “thank you” to Japan. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on her Twitter post expressed her gratitude over the Japanese donations, “We are grateful for the timely assistance we have received from partners who share the same values of freedom and democracy, giving Taiwan more confidence in democracy.” With ever increasing relations between Japan and Taiwan, Chinese government criticized Taiwan for accepting the vaccines and urged Japan to stand down. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Wenbin criticized Japan on their COVID-19 vaccine donations and questioned Japanese vaccine distributions, “I’ve noticed that Japan can barely ensure adequate supply of vaccines at home.” While China aims to disrupt the relationship between Japan and Taiwan, the donations and the responses reflect greater bonding between the two countries. Tensions between China and Taiwan further increased as a result of the vaccine donations from Japan and the United States.

Japan Extends Coronavirus Lockdown

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (left) Medical Chief Shigeru Omi (right)

On May 28, the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga along with his medical chief Shigeru Omi, announced the extension of coronavirus lockdown for another 20 days after the end of the current lockdown, which ends on May 31. This lockdown is going to be in effect for nine prefectures including: Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi, Kyoto, Hokkaido, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Fukui. The Japanese government along with their local governments under lockdown will request stop in operations for restaurants serving alcohol and facilities with karaoke. Furthermore, large facilities like malls and gyms will be requested to close shops at 8 p.m., and limit the attendance for events.

U.S.-ROK: Ironclad Relationship

May 21, 2021, President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea arrived in the United States for President Biden’s second head of state visit. During President Moon’s visit, the two countries engaged in bilateral meeting, Medal of Honor ceremony, and joint press conference. Right before the bilateral meeting began, President Biden and President Moon exchanged remarks over the warm welcoming of the American people and the continued partnership in the business front after the COVID-19, ushering a new era between the two countries. As they concluded their bilateral meeting, President Biden and President Moon participated in the Medal of Honor ceremony for a Korean War veteran Colonel Ralph Puckett Jr. for his “conspicuous gallantry”. President Biden awarded the Medal of Honor to the veteran, as he stated that this medal is “70 years overdue” for his efforts. Later in the press conference, President Biden gave remarks on this remarkable ceremony with the presence of the Korean President, “And I want to thank you again, Mr. President, for joining us. It was special. I don’t know that there’s ever been an award of a Medal of Honor with the head of state of the country where the award was won. It meant a great deal to me and to the family and to our country.” After the ceremony, the joint press conference was held in the same East Room of the White House. In the press conference, President Biden emphasized the dangers of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear threat and the continued U.S. efforts in denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Furthermore, President Biden introduced Ambassador Sung Kim as the new U.S. special envoy to DPRK, and introduced Korean CEOs of major corporations who have decided to further invest in the United States. With a playful manner, President Biden mentioned their further collaborations between the two nations, “And our people — our people-to-people and cultural connections are only growing. And K-Pop fans are universal,” which caused an uproar of laughter. In the aforementioned joint statement, the United States and the Republic of Korea have reaffirmed their support of the defense of the Republic of Korea and the U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty.

Brink of War: 2021 Israel-Palestine Conflict

One of the longest periods of conflicts of all, the fight for Jerusalem has been going on even before the birth of Jesus Christ. With a long history of conflicts in this hotly contested sight, the holy land of Jerusalem has been a territory of battle. Now, majority Jewish country of Israel is at a conflict with majority Muslim country of Palestine. This Israel-Palestine conflict in 2021 began with the Israeli government barricading the Damascus Gate Plaza in East Jerusalem on April 12. This restriction caused the Palestinians to protest, resulting in a violent clash between the Israel police and the Palestinians. Soon enough, on April 16, the Israeli government imposed a restriction on the number of people who can enter and give prayer at Al-Asa, a mosque in East Jerusalem. This also resulted in a clash between the Israel police and the Palestinian protestors. With tensions high, social media aided in fueling the flames of Israeli anger as video of Palestinian man slapping an Orthodox Jewish man spread across the internet. With growing tensions bursting with attacks between Arabs and Jews on one another, the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement to cool things off, “Nothing can justify an Arab mob assaulting Jews, and nothing can justify a Jewish mob assaulting Arabs.” While the Arabs and Jews fought one another on the street, a militant group Hamas located in Gaza Strip fired 1,500 rockets into the cities of Israel on May 10th, prompting Israeli anti-missile system to react. In retaliation, the Israel Defense Force targeted more than 100 sights with members of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. While the IDF claims that they have warned the strikes before they were launched to allow for civilian evacuations, the missile strikes resulted in a catastrophic destruction of buildings in Gaza. As the whole world closely watches on the missile strikes between Hamas and IDF, President Biden made a remark on Wednesday, “My expectation and hope is that this will be closing down sooner than later, but Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory.” As the Biden administration continues their foreign policy in supporting Israel and their legitimacy, continuing on the efforts of the previous Trump administration, there has been a wide range of backlashes by pro-Palestine members of Congress in his own party. With both Palestine and Israel fighting for control, the conflict has caused hundreds of casualties on both sides.